Did you get to the Albaugh Classic?

Told ya! I was one of thousands of car buffs in Ankeny on Saturday for The Albaugh Classic supported by hundreds of volunteers and sponsored by Karl Chevrolet. Besides the Albaugh Collection there were about 500 owners from the Midwest displaying their vehicles: classics; street rods; cars and trucks. Included were quite a few orphan cars – some with names that old-timers know like Nash, Hudson, Willys, and Packard, and some orphan brands that younger folks know too like Oldsmobile and Plymouth. There were more Corvettes than I had ever seen in one place. Below are a few of my favorites.

For the first time I saw Dennis Albaugh’s collection of 130 Chevrolets. What a collection! My favorite was the one-of-a-kind 1928 Chevrolet Camp Car owned by John and Dora McMullen and shown below. It came complete with a non-anchored wicker chair driver’s seat with a second for the front seat passenger. Imagine what a State Trooper would say about that! It also had a quilt rack to the left of the driver’s seat, drop leaf dining room table just behind the front seats, and roll down window shades. Move over Winnebago!

The Albaugh’s Collection represents a Chevrolet and a Corvette from every year, and some years with two. It’s a privilege to walk through. Watch for Dennis to open his garage again. You’ll get your chance and you don’t want to miss it.

Speaking of you don’t want to miss it, watch for the 2009 Salisbury Automobile Classic on September 13.

photos by James G. Lindberg

The Albaugh Classic

If you are a car buff, you’ll want to be in Ankeny on Saturday for The Albaugh Classic sponsored by Karl Chevrolet.

It’s your chance to see Dennis Albaugh’s collection of 130 Chevrolets; some say it is the best Chevy collection anywhere!

At the same event you will see the cars that hundreds of other folks are bringing

• classics (pre-War and post-War)
• street rods and modified
• Corvettes
• cars and trucks

You will be able to vote for your favorite 12 classics and see what the judges think of cars and trucks in 20 other categories.

Where? Albaugh, Inc. at 1525 NE 36th Street in Ankeny. (Do not believe the maps you get from either Google or Mapquest!) Instead take I-35 to exit 92, turn west on E. 1st Street (0.2 mi) then north on NE Delaware (2 mi), turn east on NE 36th (0.4 mi) and you will see it on the right as you approach the underpass at I-35.

When? Saturday, August 8th from 6:30 am until 4:00 pm. Get there early. It’s going to be hot!

How much? $10 or free to those 12 and under.  Thanks to Karl Chevrolet all the proceeds go to Ankeny High School.

photos by James G. Lindberg and dok1

Des Moines and San Francisco: a subjective view

Last month I visited family in the Bay Area of California – plenty of time to see some differences between Polk County in Central Iowa and San Mateo County just south of San Francisco. In the earlier post, more objective, quantifiable data were compared.

While some of the differences can be easily compared, it is harder to quantify other differences, such as

• food, gardening
• travel, commuting
• baseball, activities
• stress

Grocery shopping? California may have a big edge here.

• CA has New Leaf, Whole Foods, and Andronico’s, natural food stores where you can get everything you need; while the prices are a little higher on some items (especially the meat), the produce is ripe and fresh – likely because it doesn’t travel far.
• The only places like that in IA are the farmers’ markets: Des Moines Farmer’s Market, and other local markets; Iowa City’s New Pioneer Food Coop; Ames’ Wheatsfield Grocery. In contrast to CA, Des Moines-based New City Market and Campbell’s Nutrition are quite small by comparison.
• When it comes to the commercial chains (except for the produce) IA’s Hy-Vee and Dahl’s compare favorably with Safeway in CA.

Home gardening? This will get your attention! There is a wait of 4 to 7 years to get a 100 sq ft garden plot in the Fort Mason Community Garden. That is a plot about the size of a very small bedroom. We’ve had picnics at Fort Mason more than once, and it is a beautiful spot as you can see on the right; but it’s easier to find a spot to garden in Iowa.

Food, in general? My impression is that

• Iowa wins on beef and pork
• California wins on fruits and vegetables

Driving? I find it easier to drive in the Bay Area, but enough said about that.

Cars? This is a strange experience. I drove my sister’s hot rod Lincoln for 4 weeks, and you wouldn’t believe what I have seen and have not seen.

• I saw only ten 2009 Chevrolet Impalas in 20 days
• instead? Toyota, Mercedes, Lexus, Hyundai, BMW, Acura, Honda, Volvo and a few Ford cars and Chevy trucks

Public Transit? The Purple Wren and I stayed in a coastal California community about the size of Grinnell, Iowa and took lots of public transit too.

• twice to San Francisco and back (SamTrans bus and CalTrain)
• once to Oakland and part way back (walked a block to SamTrans buses then BART right to the Coliseum)
• around San Francisco (Muni)

Baseball? Definitely a lot of winners here! Whether you live in the Bay Area or Des Moines, you can see good professional baseball: San Francisco Giants; Oakland A’s; Iowa Cubs. I saw the A’s and the Tigers and my favorite Tiger Curtis Granderson (shown left), but the best part was spending the afternoon with my nephew John who rode BART from Berkeley. We had great seats, but you know, it’s hard to beat an afternoon in Principal Park right here in Des Moines!

Activities? There is more to do in both places than I can ever get to.

Stress? I am not sure that stress is the right word – intensity might be better. The pace is faster, and the crowd is larger in CA. It is a line-up kind of place, and longer lines – at the movies, banks, grocery stores, restaurants, traffic, bus/CalTrain/BART stops. It’s all exciting and intense, but it creates a little more stress. When the Purple Wren and I moved back after a year in CA 10 years ago, I said, “I could live in CA, but I wouldn’t live as long.” I’ll stand by that.

Well, you win some, you lose some, and sometimes you tie. I’m happy to be here; I was happy to be there.

Trouble at GM? It’s not the first time

The wheels have come off at GM, but it could be worse.

After all, you will wake up on Tuesday June 2, 2009, and there will still be a General Motors. (That’s good.) You will own the lion’s share of GM until (and if) it starts to make money, and then someone else will get to buy it back. (That’s mixed.) I would probably favor the idea that we (aka, the federal government/U. S. Treasury) would make some big bucks before we sell. Some question whether making money anytime soon is going to happen.

If you read 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic on AroundDesMoines.com last September -especially the links to Billy Durant – you know that GM has had its share of trouble.

Billy Durant created GM in 1908 for a small sum of money, raised a large sum of money by selling stock, bought Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac, and Oakland (Pontiac), was pushed out in 1910, quickly joined forces with a race driver named Chevrolet and founded Chevrolet Motors, regained GM in 1916, was forced out again in 1920, and before he could rebuild his fortune, was ruined in the stock market crash of 1929. Durant was a dandy entrepreneur who lived too close to the edge once too often.

You can examine the way GM views its history. While the Web site has a corporate spin, the photos make it great fun for a car buff.

CNBC.com has a timeline history that was posted on May 27 2009. While it wanders a bit, it has a lot of facts.

The foreign press is sometimes a nice read since they mince fewer words. Try the Telegraph.co.uk from England.

So while the trouble at GM is not the first trouble, it is the biggest bankruptcy in U. S. history, and it does have our attention.

I sure hope we like the changes in GM ‘cuz looking for a Chevy is never going to be the same.

photos by flickr by bobster885 and James G. Lindberg

All Saint’s Day

November 1 is All Saints Day (aka All Hallows Day, the day after All Hallow’s Eve aka Halloween). It is celebrated by Roman Catholics and Anglicans. Since there are over 10,000 saints, it seems like a pretty good idea to set aside a day. Wikipedia provides a more limited list of saints.

In 2003 the Purple Wren and I were in New Orleans for an ACS meeting. We took AMTRAK from Osceola to Chicago to New Orleans and back. In New Orleans we did the usual eating: House of Blues, Cafe du Monde, the Gumbo Shop, and our favorite – Bacco with its Tuscan roasted garlic soup. We also did tourist activities like a Jackson Park carriage ride (YouTube video), and we visted the Saint Louis Cathedral. And that’s where all the saints come in. In the Gift Shop we perused the dozen or so prayer cards in the rack. Now think about it, prayer cards have advantages as a souvenir. A prayer card is

• inexpensive
• doesn’t produce a headache
• is less likely to bring about arrest than acquiring New Orleans beads
• more interesting than a post card and
• more likely to have lasting value than a voodoo doll

While I am not Catholic or Anglican, I find wisdom and value in the spiritual teachings of others. So for the first and only time in my life I was reading prayer cards in a gift shop. (When no one is looking, you might try it.) Each card had a drawing of a saint on one side and the unique prayer of that saint on the other. My personal favorite was that of St. Joseph, sometimes called St. Joseph the Worker. The prayer is called Prayer for the Spirit of Work. On occasion when I am getting a little fatigued or whiny at work, I read it over. Some of the phrases have great appeal.

With 10,000 choices I’ll bet everyone could find a saint to celebrate.

photo by wallyg

2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic II

The 2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic was spectacular! An unusual treat this year was the 1933 Nash in the Salisbury House Courtyard; it is part of the film Public Enemies, with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale scheduled for release in July, 2009. Check out the movie trailer on YouTube and you will catch a glimpse of the Nash.

This 9th Annual Classic included everything from a Model T to a Ferrari, but the featured cars of Billy Durant were the highlight: a Little, a Durant Star Huckster Truck, a Flint Jr., and a series of (Durant) Locomobiles and Chevrolets.

It was a great afternoon to visit with the owners, listen to the music, eat lunch, meet friends and make new ones.

What a great community!

photos by Sandra Renshaw and Jim Lindberg

2008 Salisbury Automobile Classic

If you love authentic restorations and car history, the annual Salisbury Automobile Classic is the best of Des Moines, and the event will be held Sunday, September 7 from 12 pm until 5 on the Salisbury House grounds. Ninety vintage cars and hundreds of visitors are expected.

The special interest this year is William Crapo Durant whose life history reads like an out of control comet: son of Michigan’s governor; high school drop out; manager then buyer of Buick, Oldsmobile, Pontiac (then called Oakland) and Cadillac; came close to buying Ford; founded General Motors; lost them all; co-founded Chevrolet Motors then bought out his partner; rejoined GM and led a huge expansion of the business including the purchase of Fisher Body and formation of GMAC; lost enormous wealth in the 1920s; fired at GM; founded another auto company only to go bankrupt during the Great Depression; managed a bowling alley in Flint; collected a pension from GM. He was a genius who at several wrong times, ran his businesses and his life a little too close to the edge of insolvency.

You can read his story in

• Flint Journal
• the Flint library website
• encyclopedia.com
• GM next

I have gone the last three years. To me the Salisbury Automobile Classic was well worth the time.

photos by Jim Lindberg

Rollin’ Relics Car Club at Union Park

If you like old cars, head to the Heritage Carousel at Union Park on Sunday, August 24 for some family fun. As of Wednesday morning event organizers are expecting near 150 cars. The forecast predicts good weather. Judging from the pictures taken in several of the previous years, some beautiful old cars will appear. It can be fun for the whole family with

• great cars
• free rides on the Carousel from 11 – 4
• food and beverages.

Registration begins at 9 am with the awards scheduled for around 3 pm. Questions? Got a car? Check with Pat (515) 979-6060 or Tom (515) 224-9147.

Gas prices, pocket pain, less driving, more DARTing

Every facet of our lives is being affected by the price of gasoline and diesel fuel. I notice the impact more at Hy-Vee and Dahl’s than at the Phillips station, but the cost of gasoline certainly gets my attention when I spend $40 to $70 filling up my car every 10 days, and I don’t drive much. (Eating is much more fun for me.)

Business economist Lester Lave of Carnegie Mellon has been quoted as saying, “If gasoline prices go back down to $3.50, we are going to find there are still people who can’t afford to pay it.” Well, we’re back to $3.50 a gallon in Des Moines. Months ago my friend and high school classmate Don Faasen an artist who now lives in Copenhagen was quick to point out that the cost of gasoline in Denmark is $7 a gallon. That is also true in Japan and much of the rest of Europe as well.

What is the response of the American people to rising gas prices? From Ankeny to Los Angeles to Atlanta to New York, people are driving less. According to the Federal Highway Administration data, as reported across the globe by NYTimes, NBC News (or the video), Reuters India, USA Today, The Twin Cities, driving in the United States has decreased for the 8th straight month (and with it gasoline consumption).

How many fewer miles? Compared to the same period in the previous year, driving was

• down 1.4 billion miles in April
• down 9.6 billion miles in May
• down 12.2 billion miles in June and
• down 53.2 billion miles in the months from December through June

The nationwide drop in June was 4.7%, our section of the Midwest is down about 4.6%, and driving in California dropped by 8.2%. The bigger effects are rural.

It gives new meaning to the term “off-road.”

In Central Iowa we have taken to DARTing more! Ridership on DART buses is up by 10% for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008; that’s a 24 year high. The longer distance and express commutes are up most sharply. DART’s increases in ridership even made the Action 3 News in Omaha! And how about this? On the DART website that you can sign up to car- or vanpool within a 17 county area. Other than the stress, do you wonder what it might save you to use public transit in Central Iowa? DART will help you with the calculation.

Des Moines is not that different than Los Angeles in our public transit response. Ridership there is up 14% in 3 months. Los Angeles broke an all-time record one-day record for public transit ridership in June. (Now we made the Action News 3 in Omaha for our ridership increase, but they made BBC News in London. Big deal. I’d still rather live in Des Moines.) We are also not that different in our increased use of carpools.

Here are two numbers to think about. In the first seven months of 2008, demand for petroleum in the US dropped by 800,000 barrels/day (2.1%). (USA Today) According to Representive Don Young of Alaska, the maximum output from the trans-Alaskan Pipeline was 2,200,000 barrels/day.

Just by driving 2.1% less for the first 6 months of 2008, we have

• made available 800,000 barrels of oil/day for other uses (It’s like increasing the Alaskan pipeline by 35%.),
• the price of oil and gasoline has dropped, and here’s the best part
• we didn’t have to spend our money to do any of it – no drilling, no government subsidy, no tax increase. Good deal. Imagine if we continue the current 4.7% decrease!

Here’s another good deal. In 2007 traffic death rates were at an all time low – 1.37 deaths/100 million miles. With a decrease of 12.2 billion driving miles in June, the lives of 167 Americans were saved. Bonus!

photos by James Lindberg and

photos by flickr by stevencko

Facing Des Moines: Meet Randy Torgeson

Randy Torgeson, the King of Cubes (as in cubic inches) is known around the world for building cylinders and other parts for the biggest American-made, V-twin motorcycle engines on the planet. His project last week was a 167 cubic inch engine that is heading to Australia. When I visited on 8/2, an engine had just arrived from a customer in South Africa. Hyperformance in Pleasant Hill is not the place you will find someone to work on just any bike, but if you want a complete, Hyperformance long block engine, cylinders machined from ductile iron (an iron-magnesium alloy), titanium connecting rods, or other specialty parts, you’ve come to the right place. You’ll find Randy Torgeson working in his shop 65-70 hours a week. His specialty cylinders and an engine he built are in a 205 called Woody (styled after a California Woodie) built for Doc Hopkins, a Harley dealer in WI who likes to ride with Jay Leno. Another set of cylinders is going into the world’s largest custom motorcycle engine, a 260 being assembled in Des Moines by Radical Cycle and Randy’s business partner Kent Croskey. You can see the bike on You Tube. You will also find Randy answering technical questions at his website or at the V-Twin Forum.

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